Asset management giant Grayscale is the latest crypto company to delay its plans to go public due to market conditions, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
The Stamford-based investment firm has paused its IPO preparations and is unlikely to restart the process until the fourth quarter at the earliest, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the matter is private.
Grayscale, a subsidiary of DCG, one of the world’s largest crypto asset managers and the firm behind the Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC), confidentially filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in the US in November last year.
“Due to the silent period ordered by the SEC, we are unable to comment at this time,” a Grayscale spokesperson said in emailed comments.
Grayscale is a leading digital asset investment platform that provides investors with safe and regulated exposure to the cryptocurrency market. Through its suite of thematic, diversified, and single-asset investment products, the company enables institutional and retail investors to access digital assets without the operational complexities of purchasing, storing, or managing cryptocurrencies directly. Since its founding in 2013, the company has played a central role in bridging traditional finance and the evolving digital asset ecosystem.
Crypto companies entered 2026 anticipating a watershed year for IPOs after successful listings of companies like Circle (CRCL) and Bullish (BLSH), CoinDesk’s parent company, helped revive investor interest in digital asset deals last year. However, since then, worsening market conditions, weaker trading activity, and disappointing post-listing performance of new public companies, including BitGo (BTGO), have tempered enthusiasm for new digital asset IPOs.
As a result, several major crypto companies, including Payward, the parent company of Kraken; Consensys, Ethereum software developer; and hardware wallet maker Ledger, have delayed their IPO plans as they wait for market conditions to stabilize.
Still, some companies are moving ahead with their plans to go public. Blockchain.com said last week that it had confidentially filed for a US IPO with the SEC.
Grayscale’s Ethereum Stake Mini exchange-traded fund (ETF) ranked as the top-performing ETP launch in the US in the first quarter of 2026, attracting $337 million in inflows as of March 31, according to Bloomberg data. Despite a broader downturn in crypto markets, the company has taken steps to convert or list 10 digital asset investment products into exchange-traded products as of fall 2025.
